


Look At Me And Say "I Love You"

by Dedmemes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), because I though there weren't enough, love bug au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-09-02 05:10:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20270515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dedmemes/pseuds/Dedmemes
Summary: *insert typical love bug AU summary*The team goes to a planet, Keith gets bitten and 'falls' in love with Lance, they spend the next three days glued to each other to stop Keith's heart from stopping.





	1. The irrational fear of bugs

**Author's Note:**

> While I was writing the sequel to I Want You this entered my mind and forced me to write it. And thus this was created. 
> 
> I know the concept is super overrated but I just had to put this out there y' know. 
> 
> Also, I already finished writing this so I'll try to post them all in a schedule if I don't forget.

The meeting they were currently in had gone on for hours. He was tired and his butt was achy, his ears were starting to ring from the constant onslaught of voices that had been arguing back and forth for hours. 

In his distracted stated his eyes were drawn to Lance who was staring at the beautiful servant near to the king. He felt bitter jealousy slowly claw it's way up to his throat as he watched those blue eyes he loved so much stare admiringly at someone else. 

His crush on the tanned boy was getting ridiculous at this point. Pining after someone he knew would never return any of his affections. Someone who would rather pick fights with and make fun of him rather than hang out with or compliment him like he does everyone else. 

The planet they were in was called Laxima and the citizens  _ were _ quite beautiful. They looked humanoid-like Allura and Coran. The difference was their skin, it varied between different cool colors. The one Lance was busy admiring had blue skin (not a blue as beautiful as Lance's eyes, but blue) and she had a short, bob-like hairstyle that framed her face perfectly. She also had bright glowing eyes that actually crept Keith out a bit but to Lance, they most likely looked enticing. 

When they had first arrived Lance had immediately started blabbering about how these aliens were some of the most beautiful they had met so far. When everyone was ignoring him Lance turned to Keith. 

Keith who was always willing to give Lance attention no matter how pointless the topic. He was willing to take any chance to talk to Lance. 

Lance knew this and he was willing to take full advantage of the fact that he could goad Keith into any conversation. Lance had tried to ask Keith who the prettiest alien among the people they were passing in their walk was. Keith had glanced around them and pointed at a crowd of laxinians. 

He smirked when Lance tried to follow the tip of his finger and pouted when he saw that there was a crowd. 

“That’s not fair. Which one are you even pointing to?” Lance had complained and then pouted when Keith refused to tell. 

In truth, Keith hadn’t been pointing at an alien. He was pointing at a reflective surface that looked a lot like glass. To be more specific, he was pointing at Lance’s reflection in the glass-like surface. 

After their walk through the town, they had ended up in the palace for a meeting with the royal family. That’s where they were now, still in the meeting where they had not yet reached a conclusion on their allegiance. 

Every time it looked like a conclusion was being reached someone brought up a new complaint and the argument was re-started all over again. 

Keith was exhausted and sweaty. For some reason, these aliens had a different perspective on what considered hot and what wasn’t so the room was probably more than one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. 

He just wanted to go to his room in the castle and take off his armor and take a nice cold bath before he fell asleep. 

After what felt like hours later, the meeting finally ended and the paladins were able to stand up to leave. On their way back to the lions Keith was trailing behind the others because of his exhaustion. Lance saw that and decided to fall back a little too so he could keep Keith company. Keith didn’t really feel up to talking to anyone so he just nodded to Lance and keep going. 

The planet Laxima had enough oxygen outside so the paladins had taken their helmets off hours earlier. Keith had left him in his lion because he didn’t feel like carrying it but right now he wished that he had it. 

There were a lot of bugs flying around here. Keith had always been scared of bugs, they were scary and creepy. There was one bug specifically that Keith wanted to stay away from. 

It was pinkish with red eyes and wings that looked heart-shaped. It was probably the size of his fingernail and it looked around one centimeter in width. It looked absolutely disgusting and Keith wanted to be as far away as possible. 

The bug looked like the only one of its kind and Keith walked a little faster just to get away from it. The problem was that the bug seemed to be following him when he increased his pace the bug did too. Keith looked at the bug and its creepy red eyes seemed to be looking back at him. 

When it came closer he actually did a little whimper and flinched back. He bumped into Lance and was momentarily distracted from the bug. 

That proved to be a mistake. 

When he realized that he looked back to where the bug was before. It was no longer there, he looked around but the bug was nowhere to be found. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Lance asked.

“Lance, there was a bug here. Did you see where it went?”

“A bug. You know that there are bugs everywhere around here” 

“No, it was a different bug. It was pink with red eyes and heart-shaped wings” Keith was looking all around but the bug was nowhere to be found. 

“It probably just flew away, nothing to worry about. Although, Keith, are you by any chance… afraid of bugs?” Lance was smirking. He was trying to goad Keith into a competition but Keith was too terrified of the prospect that the bug was still flying around.

“No… I’m not afraid of bugs. It’s just that bags are creepy and I don’t want to be near them” Keith’s face was getting a bit flushed. He didn’t want to admit to Lance that he was afraid of bugs but at the same time he didn’t want to be near that bug. 

“Wait you said it was pink right?” 

“Yeah, do you see it?” Keith was looking around but he couldn’t see the bug. He tried to follow where Lance was looking but as far as he could see Lance was just looking at him. 

“Yeah, it’s right there” Lance was pointing at Keith. Or rather, at his chest. 

When Keith looked at his own chest he saw the creepy red eyes that he was searching for just a couple seconds ago. 

He couldn’t help it. Keith actually squealed, he raised his hand to his neck and tried to swat the bug off. It was to no avail and instead, the bug moved from his armor to his bare skin. 

“Lance, get it off” Keith was actually near shrinking at this point. The rest of the group heard him and started asking what was going on. Lance tried to swat the bug away but Keith accidentally hit him in the midst of his panic. 

“Keith, calm down and I’ll get it off of you, okay?” Lance was acting gentler and his voice had a calming effect on Keith. Just as he was about to nod and let Lance deal with the bug he felt a pinch on his neck. 

He let out a whimper at the slight pain and then he felt like his vision blacked out for a couple of seconds. In that time he fell to the floor and let out another whimper of pain. 

“Shit, Keith, are you okay? Oh my god please don’t tell me that the bug was poisonous. I’m sorry I didn’t get it off soon enough. Please wake up, C’mon” Lance was panicking. He entered overprotective mode the moment Keith had let out the first whimper of pain. 

The rest of the group saw what was happening and immediately rushed back. 

“What happened?”

“Is Keith okay?”

“Keith!”

Keith heard the voices but it sounded like they were in a tunnel, the voiced distant and distorted. The only one he heard was Lance’s. 

Had his voice always been so soothing? It was calming and made Keith feel better immediately. He wanted to stand up just so Lance would no longer be worried about him. Lance’s voice should never sound sad or worried, that should be a crime; it just didn’t suit Lance. 

He managed to open his eyes and was assaulted with a sight that should have been illegal. He was on his back and Lance was hovering over him. Their faces were probably only a couple of inches apart and yet that felt like too much to Keith. 

All he could see was Lance. Lance with his freckles and blue eyes that held entire oceans. His eyebrows were furrowed in a concerned frown and Keith wanted to use his finger and smooth out that furrow. 

“Lance, have you always been this pretty?” Keith asked, for once in his life he allowed himself to say exactly what he was thinking. He didn’t know why he wouldn’t ever allow himself to tell Lance how he felt, Lance is pretty and Keith should tell him. 

“Uhh, what are you saying, Keith?” Lance was blushing, his face was a pretty pink that Keith was just enamored with. He wanted to and so he did. He wrapped his hands around Lance’s neck and pulled him down so Lance was on top of him. 

“Lance, I love you, You’re so cute” Keith basically shrieked. He just had to express his love for Lance. He was usually so careful with making sure that he didn’t do anything that could give away his feelings for Lance and yet, right now, he had to show them. 

It felt great exhilarating to finally show Lance his love. To express himself and his love to Lance without fear of rejection. 

“KEITH!” Lance was frozen on top of him. What could be wrong? Was Lance embarrassed that Keith just pulled him out of nowhere? That had to be it. Keith supposed that it was a bit embarrassing especially considering Shiro would mock him endlessly for this. 

He had been trying to get Keith to confess to Lance for the longest of time. Keith had always insisted that there was no way that Lance felt the same thing for him and ignored him. Now that Keith had finally proclaimed his love Shiro would definitely make fun of him and tease him over his crush like always. 

“Lance, I love you, didn’t you hear me?” Keith let go of Lance for a few seconds while they both sat up, then as soon as they were sitting on the ground he attacked Lance with a hug again. He buried his face in Lance’s neck and nestled into it. Lance was just so  _ warm _ , it was no wonder that he had a crush on the boy when he basically radiated warmth. Something Keith wanted more of.

“Keith, did you bump your head or something. Did you get replaced with an alternative version of yourself” Pidge asked, the others had finally gotten there and stood standing while the red and blue paladins were sitting on the ground with Keith hugging Lance tightly. 

“Guys, I think Keith is broken” Lance turned and looked at the rest of the paladins with absolute fear in his eyes. 


	2. The bug starts working

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance starts the love bug Keith experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!!!  
I realized that I had left this as a one-shot rather than the multi-chaptered fic it is so I fixed that now. (1/1 to 2/5)

“Is everything okay, paladins?” Lam, one of the royal servants, asked. She was in charge of showing them the way back to the lions after the meeting ended. 

“ _ No _ ! Do you not see how Keith is acting. Nothing about this is okay!” Lance exclaimed loudly because everybody needed to understand just how  _ not _ okay this all was. Keith was not acting like himself right now. He was hugging Lance which should already be weird enough but Keith was also proclaiming his love for Lance? 

Yeah, definitely not okay. 

“Lance, I think you should calm down. And, Keith, let go of Lance” Shiro was trying to calm down everyone but it was apparently not working very well. 

Shiro reached for Keith to try and part the two boys but that proved to be a failure when Keith raised his head and glared at Shiro. 

Lance was shocked, to say the least. Keith had glared at everyone at one point, even Hunk, but never at Shiro. Shiro was the only person Keith completely respected and he almost never argued or fought with, other than during training. But now, Keith was glaring ferociously at Shiro, like having to move away from Lance was the worst thing that can happen. 

Keith slapped Shiro’s hands easily and hugged Lance even tighter. Keith started climbing into Lance’s lap and one of his hands untangled itself from Lance so he could use it to wrap Lance’s hand around his own body. 

“No. I want to stay with Lance,” said Keith when he wrapped his free hand on Lance again. “Lance don’t let them take me, please, I want to stay with you” he turned his head to Lance and activated his puppy dog eyes. They were literally pleading Lance to not let him go. Then, Keith’s eyes started to get shiny and glossy. 

Lance’s heart gave a pang at how sad Keith looked. He should not look that sad at the prospect of being separated from Lance if he did then Lance’s heart was going to get hope. 

“Is the red paladin okay?” Lam asked again. 

“Keith, buddy, let me go” 

“No, Lance,  _ please. _ I don’t want to leave you. Don’t─” Keith was becoming panicked and frantic. 

“Oh dear, did he get bitten by an amoro lueg?” Lam looked around at the paladins. She was looking at their different expressions. 

The black paladin, Shiro, looked surprised but there was an underlying layer of mischief. The yellow paladin, Hunk, looked happy. The green paladin, Pidge, just looked sly, she looked ready to bring out her phone and take a picture of the red and blue paladins. The blue paladin, Lance, looked horrified and shocked that the red paladin was holding onto him. Princess Allura just looked shocked and her advisor looked as equally taken aback. 

“Wait, did you say ‘amoro lueg’ like that bug that can make others attracted to someone?” Allura turned to look at Lam. 

Lance was once again taken aback. A bug that causes attraction? That could not be happening. Although, it would explain why Keith was suddenly in love with Lance. It was sad and depressing that it would take a bug from space to do that but he guessed that was just how much Keith hated him.

He looked over at Coran for help but he seemed to be whispering something to Shiro. Lance couldn’t hear what it was but Shiro’s eyes widened and his head snapped to look at Lance. Before he could ask though Lam interrupted. 

“Um, I guess but rather than cause attr─” 

“Soo... is there a cure?” Shiro interrupted Lam when she was going to explain how the bug worked. It was something that he was interested in though, a cure. That was very important. A cure to get Keith to stop cuddling him like he actually loves him and isn’t just under the effect of some kind of evil space bug that causes attraction. 

“There’s no cure” Lance wanted to die.  **No cure.** That meant that Keith was going to be stuck under a love spell for the rest of his life. Voltron was going to fall apart and it was all going to be because Lance couldn’t stop a stupid pink bug from biting his friend.

Lam seems to notice how distressed Lance was turning and said “the effects usually dissipate themselves after about three quintants”

The paladins were all shocked into silence at the prospect of no cure but most of them breathed a sigh of relief when Lam said that the effects would leave on their own. 

Most. Not Lance. He didn’t want to spend an entire three days with a Keith who believes he’s in love with Lance. Not when he has a crush on the boy. It shatters him to know that he is finally gonna have everything he could possibly want and is going to have to reject him because it won’t be real. 

Keith won’t actually be in love with Lance. Taking advantage of the fact that Keith thinks he’s in love with him would selfish and inhumane. That would not be consensual on Keith’s part and Lance is not  _ that _ asshole that will take advantage of a person like that. 

“There’s nothing that can be done, like, I don’t know, speed up the process and cure Keith right now. I don’t want to spend days with him clinging to me like-like he loves me!” Lance felt Keith shift on top of him and he looked down. 

“Wait─ number three, you shouldn’t say that─” that was all Coran could get through before he was interrupted by a loud sob coming from Keith. 

Lance was panicking again. Keith was crying in his lap and there was nothing Lance wanted more than to hug Keith tightly and comfort him. Tell him that he loved him and that his smile was the biggest blessing Lance has ever been allowed to witness. But he couldn’t do that, not when Keith isn’t his, Keith is just under a spell caused by a bug and he  _ didn’t _ really love Lance. 

“S-sorry, Lance, I’m probably annoying you. Y-you, don’t have to be near me if you don’t want to. I k-know that you don’t like me. Sorry” Keith was full-on bawling like a baby and Lance had no idea what he should do. 

Keith started to stand up but he was shaking so much that his knees couldn’t support him and he fell on his ass. He started to get up again and pushed himself to his knees before looking at Lance again. 

Lance thought he heard his actual heart break at the sight of their fearless red paladin on his knees with tears leaking out of his eyes and his face blotchy. The rims of his eyes were rosy, the same rosy as his cheeks. 

“Wait no no no no, Keith, that’s not what I meant,” Lance said as he sat next to Keith and put his hands on his shoulders. “C’ mon, baby, stop crying. I do like you, I’m sorry, it’s not like that” 

“Really?” Keith’s tears slowed down when Lance said that he liked him. 

“Yep, that’s what happens when you tell an affected person that you don’t love them.” 

Keith jumped on Lance again even though his face was all blotchy and red it was still one of the most beautiful sights Lance had been faced with. 

“Wait- are you saying that Lance has to spend three days glued at the hip with Keith” Pidge’s voice was full of glee. Lance knew that she suspected he had a crush on Keith, she hadn’t confirmed anything fully yet but she had caught him staring at Keith multiple times. 

Hunk, on the other hand, had full knowledge of all the things Lance thought about Keith. He had been subjected to all the rants Lance made about Keith ever since they were in the Garrison. His face was equally as gleeful as Pidge’s, Lance knew that these next few days were going to be hell for him. 

They went back to the castle after getting more information on how the bug worked. Lance didn’t pay any attention to what Lam had to say since his fate for an entire week had already been decided. Before they left Pidge said she wanted to take one of the bugs with her so she and Coran could examine it closer. 

As soon as they got back Lance decided that he was too tired from all this and that he was going to go to sleep. The meeting had made everyone tired and all they could think about since the meeting ended was about sleeping on their own beds. All he wanted was to jump into a quick shower, do his nightly routine, change into comfy clothes and sleep. 

Keith had decided that he wasn’t willing to separate from Lance on their way back so he had gone to blue with Lance and ridden with him. He had sat on his lap for the entire ride home and Lance had more than one problem with that. 

Apparently Red is completely supportive of love bug drunk Keith so she had followed behind Blue obediently. Keith really should get an award for the connection he had managed to nurture with Red. Lance often teases him on how Red is like an overprotective mother to him. She literally goes crazy any time he’s in danger and that’s something even Shiro doesn’t have with his lion. 

Things on Blue had been on the verge of getting very hard. 

He had mentally begged to every god that Keith wouldn’t notice his problem. He really didn’t want to find out what would happen if Keith discovered what he was causing Lance. All he knew it that it was going to be something normal Keith would punch him over. 

The ride was probably only about eight to ten minutes but to Lance, it felt like hours. Hours with the constant warmth that was Keith on his lap and the wriggling sensation every time he decided that being completely pressed up against each other wasn’t nearly close enough so he pushed himself even closer to Lance.

When they finally arrived on the blue lion hangar and they could get out Lance all but threw Keith off his lap and hurried down the ramp. 

Keith had rushed after Lance and attacked him with a hug on the back. “Lance, don’t leave me” 

“I’m not leaving you, Keith” Lance was too tired at this point to even become flustered at Keith’s behavior. 

Keith clung to him all throughout the walk to their rooms and all Lance could do was try to move with the human version of a koala on his back. Lance decided to go drop off Keith in his door so he could make sure that Keith went in. 

When they arrived at Keith’s door Lance turned to Keith and said, “Well, this is you” 

Yep. That’s all he said, like a fucking dumbass on his first date. Like Lance and Keith just had a great time on a date and now he was dropping him off at the door of his house. This is the moment when Lance would give Keith a goodnight kiss and go to his own house. 

In fact, these are the same words he actually used on his first date. It was a girl named Claire and they had met each other through their family. The scenario happened exactly like Lance just thought about it. Those words, her house, a kiss, and his walk to his own house. 

“Yeah, let me just grab my clothes and stuff and I’ll be right out, okay,” Keith said as he turns to give Lance a kiss on the cheek and then runs into his room, presumably to get his clothes and stuff.

The automatic door closes behind Keith and for a few seconds, Lance is stuck relieving the cheek kiss that he doesn’t comprehend what Keith really said. Keith comes out moments later empty-handed and tries to pull Lance inside his room. 

“Sorry- I just got worried when I couldn't see you behind the door,” Keith says as he pulls on his arm. 

“Wait, Keith, what do you mean ‘get my clothes and stuff’? Where are you going to sleep?” Lance asks the stupid question. He already knows the answer: Keith wants to sleep with him. “You’re not going to sleep with me if that’s what you want”

Keith finally stops trying to pull him in and turns to face Lance again. “But I want to stay with you for the rest of the night” 

Oh, shit, Lance could see the beginnings of gloss in Keith’s eyes and he knew that if he didn’t do anything then Keith was going to start sobbing again. 

“Keith, we can’t sleep in the same room. It wouldn't be right to sleep together, especially when you’re not your normal self right now. I know that you’d never agree to this if you were in the right state of mind, Okay? I’ll see you in the morning” Lance wanted to extract himself from this situation as soon as possible. He knew that if Keith ended up sleeping with him he would actually die. 

“But I am in my right state of mind right now, Lance. I always want to spend time around you. I don’t know why but for some reason I actually have the guts to convey to you how much I care about you right now” Keith was pleading again with Lance. That bug was strong if it could make Keith feel like he had actual feelings for Lance. 

Lance was in actual pain. He felt that something in his chest was being ripped apart and this was all being engraved in his memories. This was all too much for him, he wasn’t the type of person that could handle somebody pretending to be in love with him. He has always been told that he was a romantic, someone who dreamt of a happy ending and having a family. He was not meant for something like this. 

His life for the next few days was going to be absolute hell. 

“Keith─” Lance cut himself off. The last thing he wanted was to make Keith have another sad tantrum in which he started begging and crying for Lance to take him to his room and that they sleep together. He was way too tired for all of this, he was so tired from the mission and everything else happening with Keith. He just wanted to go to sleep and if he was going to have to take Keith with him then he’ll just take him. 

He just prays that Keith doesn’t remember any of this. If he does remember Lance would have to get accustomed to Keith’s hatred because he would never get over Lance taking advantage of his vulnerable state. 

After this, he could never tell Keith how he really feels about him because then he would think that this was all an opportunity for him to use him for his own twisted perversions. Even if all Lance wants is for Keith to stay in his own room and for Keith to be able to stay away from him, that’s not how it’s going to be seen as from Keith’s perspective. 

He wanted to cry. “Let’s go then, get your clothes and we can go to sleep in my room. Together.”

Keith gave him a smile and went back to get his clothes. He showed up a couple of moments later with an armful of clothes and a pillow. He must have changed while inside because he was already wearing more comfortable sleeping clothes. Then he grabbed Lance’s hand and pushed himself closer to him “I’m ready, let’s go”

Lance only sighed and continued on his way to his own room, pulling the human equivalent of a koala with his hand. He opened the door and stepped into his own space. His room was moderately messy, there were some clothes thrown around the floor and his shoes were scattered. His bed was the only thing that was not messy, it was made and organized. 

Keith was quick to throw his pillow on the bed and go straight to the bathroom to wash his teeth. He looked way too familiar in his room like he belonged there. Lance, himself, went to his own closet and picked up his pajamas, he usually just slept in the pants but he figured that Keith wouldn’t take it well if Lance told him they couldn’t share a bed so he was going to have to sleep in everything, 

After Keith came out and made his way to the bed Lance went to the bathroom and closed the door so he could change. He took off his clothes and put his pajamas but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about how little sleep he was actually going to get tonight. He was going to be subjected to Keith sleeping in his bed, his crush sleeping in his bed while he thought that he was in love with Lance. Life could honestly not think of a worse form of torture. 

He brushed his teeth and came out to a sight that made him want to jump out of the airlock. Keith was in his bed, under the cover and hugging Lance’s pillow to his chest. His eyes were closed and his face was buried in the pillow. 

When he looked up at the sound of the door opening and noticed that Lance was staring at him. He started to get red and then he got a dopey smile on his face and gave Lance the fondest look he could think of. “I wasn’t sure what side of the bed you sleep in so I just chose to sleep in the wall side” 

“It doesn’t matter ─ I’ll just sleep in whatever side is good” Lance averted his eyes as he climbed into the bed and settled in at the very edge of the mattress. He slowly pulled his pillow from Keith and settled it under him. He turned his back to Keith and covered his body with the sheet. Everything was so awkward between them right now and he had no idea how to diffuse the tension.

“So… goodnight, Keith” 

“Goodnight, Lance” Keith cuddled up to his back and Lance froze up. Keith either didn’t notice or didn’t care he just keep cuddling to him without a care in the world. “I love you”

If Lance spilled some tears because of how much he wanted Keith to say that for real then nobody but he and his pillow had to know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading this. 
> 
> Stay posted for the next chapter that will be up next Friday. (I have an actual schedule for this, yay)


	3. A stopped heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is smitten and not afraid to show it. Lance is pining and hates himself for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit later than I usually post because I got a new phone and it didn't remind me, like, my other phone always sent a remainder when I set it but this one didn't.

Lance woke up to a heavyweight on his chest. When he looked down he saw that there was a heap of black hair on top of him. 

Oh, Keith was just sleeping on top of him. Lance looked around the room and then reality hit him. 

_ Keith was sleeping on top of him _ . What had happened? How did they end up sleeping in the same bed? 

His mind became fully awake and the events of yesterday flooded his mind. Keith being bitten by the love bug and thought that he was in love with Lance. Keith started to cry and beg to spend time with Lance when he denied him something. How Keith ended up sleeping here because Lance wanted to avoid another crying fit. 

Lance let his head hit the pillow under him and he groaned. He wished he could go back to sleep so that he could get out of this reality for a little while longer. It was weird that Keith was still asleep since he was usually the first person in the castle ship to be awake. He usually hit the training deck hours before the rest of the crew even got up. 

Lance thought it was unfair how little sleep Keith had to get with that kind of sleep schedule and he still managed to look good. How could that be fair? The answer, it wasn’t.

Lance’s erratic heartbeat must have been too much for Keith because he started stirring. He opened his eyes and blinked at Lance, sleep still clinging to his eyes. “Lance? You’re awake!” 

“G-good morning” he hated that there was a stutter in his voice but he couldn’t help it. Keith was too cute in the morning. 

“I love waking up to your face in the morning. Your bedhead is adorable” Keith reached up and ruffled Lance’s hair before rolling off of him and instead of grabbing his hand to play with his fingers. “I can’t believe we weren’t doing this before, I should’ve had the courage to confess to you so long ago but I thought you wouldn’t like me. Thank god you do or else I wouldn’t know what I’d do” 

Deciding that he didn’t want to cry right after waking up Lance changed the topic. “What are you doing in bed at this hour? You're usually in the training deck before breakfast”

Keith hummed. “That’s only because I have trouble sleeping. I don’t like sleeping alone and that’s why I end up training instead. I’m surprised I managed to sleep this long. It must be because of you”

Lance had a feeling that he wasn’t supposed to know about Keith’s sleeping problem, and he wouldn’t have if Keith was normal. But he wasn’t so he was going to share personal information because he thought that he was in love with him. It was unfair, he didn’t deserve this.

“How about we get breakfast?” Lance saw the slight frown Keith got on his face when he saw that Lance wasn’t going to respond to his earlier statement before getting a smile and nodding. 

“Let’s go” 

***

Keith clung to him all throughout breakfast and then on their way to training. Lance had tried to ignore the burning stares from the rest of their team but he still saw how Pidge had taken a picture and Hunk had high fived her.

“So, Keith, how much do you love Lance?” Pidge held up her space phone which Lance knew was recording.

“A lot” Keith responded from where he was hugging Lance’s arm to his chest. 

“How much is a lot” 

“From here to the end of space” Hunk and Pidge started laughing at how deadpan Keith was with his answers.

“Pidge, please put that away. Keith and Lance are both going through a difficult enough situation without us making fun of them” Shiro held a hand up to rub his temple while he berated Pidge on her behavior. Lance was cheering for Shiro because he was the only one who seemed to not want to make fun of them. 

“But this is prime blackmail material, Shiro” Pidge was actually whining about this. Shiro usually let her get away with stuff like this, although, looking back on her behavior she realized that it was a bit immature. It’s just— Lance talked to Hunk about his crush on Keith (she hadn’t confirmed he had a crush but he had to with how much he stared at the other boy) and Keith talked to Shiro about his crush on Lance (Pidge had confirmed his crush one time she eavesdropped on their conversation but Keith had never actually talked to her about it).

She felt left out. She thought of both Keith and Lance as her brothers and she wanted for them both to be happy and yet they didn’t trust her enough to talk to her. She could keep a secret and she wouldn’t make a joke about it— all she wanted was for them to just  _ talk _ to her. This was the first time something like this happened so she wanted to be included just like the rest of them. She wasn’t  _ trying _ to make fun of them...much. 

“It doesn't matter. We should be making this situation easier for both Keith and Lance and that includes not trying to blackmail them after this is over. Is that understood?” Shiro looked at everyone in the room and made sure they all (except Keith who wasn’t paying attention) responded.

“Yes” 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself. That was an excellent demonstration of leadership, Shiro” Allura walked in with all the grace befitting a princess and smiled at them. Coran following behind her. 

Almost on instinct since he did it so much Lance flirted with Allura. “Well aren’t you looking gorgeous, Allura” Lance didn’t even have a real crush on Allura anymore, he had taken to thinking about her as his sister. He just enjoys flirting with her, they had talked it out before and explained everything to her. 

Everyone froze at his statement and looked over to where the two paladins were. Lance still had his classic ‘flirting Lance’ smirk on his face which he quickly lost as he felt how still Keith had gone next to him. 

Keith was just looking down and nobody had a really good look at his face, that meant that they didn’t have even the slightest idea how the black-haired boy was feeling. 

“Lance, maybe you shouldn’t say things like those right—” Coran didn’t get to finish his sentence before Keith ripped himself from Lance and ran out the door. “Lance, you have to go after him and tell him you didn’t mean it!” Coran was panicked now. 

Lance didn’t really understand what was happening but he remembered how alarmed Coran had gotten the day before when Lance had asked for a cure that would make Keith stop being in love with him. “Wait, why do I have to?” He was going to go after Keith but first, he wanted to understand what was happening. 

“Well, the amoro lueg can cause physical pain when the person who was bitten believes that their fated one does not return their feelings. It can be very dangerous so I recommend you go after number four this instant and comfort him. I wanted to tell you about this yesterday but you and number four went to sleep immediately after getting back to the castle.” Lance’s face was twisting deeper and deeper into an expression of horror at the fact that he could actually be causing Keith pain. 

That was the last thing he wanted was to cause Keith to suffer. Without another one of his teammates, he turned and ran out the door. 

He had to find Keith. 

***

The first place he looked was Red. Lance had noticed that when Keith felt uncomfortable or distressed he would go to Red’s hangar and talk to the lion. 

As soon as he went on he saw that his mulleted friend and crush was nowhere to be found. It was possible that he was inside the lion but he doubted that was the case because Red didn’t have her particle barrier up like she did when Keith was in distress. 

Lance ran out of there and went to where the rooms were and went to Keith’s. The door was unlocked and Keith was, once again, nowhere to be found. 

Lance knew he wasn’t in the training deck since that was where the rest of the team was. Lance had no idea where to go next. Keith only ever traveled between those three places so he had no idea where the other boy could be. 

He should have run after him immediately but he was too stupid and instead stayed frozen like a dumbass waiting for an explanation as to why he hurt Keith. He knew why he hurt Keith, he had flirted with someone else  _ right in front _ of him while he was high on love bug juice. 

Lance was an asshole. 

An asshole that Keith was going to hate when these three days were over and he realized how much harm Lance had caused him. 

He kept wandering down the castle hallways looking for somewhere Keith might have gone after Lance hurt his feelings. Eventually, he entered a hallway that wasn’t really used much by the paladins. 

The castle was a big place and most of them stayed in their usual haunts with only occasionally exploring when they were bored or wanted to see what the castle had. 

It was eerily quiet and Lance was about to turn back when he heard gasps. Choked, short gasps that were filled with pain. 

_ Keith _

Lance followed the sound until the sound increased in volume and came across a doorway. He peered inside and saw exactly the person he wanted to see. 

Keith was sitting on the floor with his back against a window leading to the outside. It showed a beautiful view, all dark, endless space filled with fluttering starts and floating asteroids. Lance only spared a slight glance at that though, he was more preoccupied with the boy holding his chest tightly to his chest in a fist, grabbing a handful of his shirt and holding it tight. He head was bent so and his eyes were shut with an expression of pain clouding his features. Short, tight gasps were escaping his mouth. 

Lance rushed over and kneeled next to him. He wasn’t sure whether he was allowed to touch him since Keith usually avoided physical touch like the plague but he wasn’t sure what else he could do. 

He placed one hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezed slightly, loose enough so that Keith could shrug it off but tight enough so that he would know someone was there. “Keith, breathe” 

Keith’s head snapped up to him and his eyes opened and widened. “L-Lance... what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be training with the others” He looked away from Lance, clearly avoiding eye-contact with him. Lance noticed how the red paladin was still holding on to his chest tightly and he realized that he was most likely still in pain. 

“I got worried after you ran out on us and went off in search for you” He held his forehead to the other paladin’s and cradled his head between his palms. Rubbing away the stray tears still falling from his face with the pads of his thumbs. “I didn’t want to cause you pain” he all but whispered, his breath hitting the starstruck paladin’s face.

Keith let out one last sob before jumping Lance, his arms encircling Lance’s neck and grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. He pushed himself onto Lance’s lap, causing the other boy to fall on his ass. Keith pushed himself even closer to Lance and then his face was getting close to Lance’s— too close—  _ wait, that not _ — 

Keith’s lips brushed his and for a second Lance.exe stopped working. For that one second, his mind absorbed everything. The weight of Keith on top of him, how tightly Keith was holding on to him, how his own hands were placed at Keith’s waist, and lastly, how Keith’s lips were slightly chapped and how his breath hitched for a moment before he pressed their lips together. 

Keith was pushing their faces together, his eyes closed while he pressed himself inside against Lance. His eyes flew open when Lance suddenly put his hands to Keith’s chest and pushed the other boy back. 

“Keith! You can’t just do that—” his face was red, he was sure of that. One of his hands went up to cover his lips which still had the phantom sensation of the kiss. He was the one who was trying to avoid eye-contact now. He was so focused on not looking at Keith that he didn’t even see when his face fell and how he slowly started to back away, his lips wobbling slightly.

“S-sorry… wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry— I should just go” Keith looked down and tried to push himself up. Lance realized that if he didn’t fix this right now then he was going to cause Keith even more pain. 

“Wait Keith— that’s not what I meant. I was just surprised that you kissed me out of nowhere” Lance tried to comfort him, making Keith have any kind of negative feelings right now was the worst thing Lance could do. He had to do all he could to make him calm. 

Keith was frozen on top of him which Lance took as a good sign since he was no longer trying to escape the situation. Lance let Keith think about what he wanted to say so he let the silence linger without saying anything. “So you don’t hate that I kissed you.” It wasn’t a question, more like Keith trying to sort his thoughts. 

Lance rubbed his hands slowly up and down Keith’s forearms in an attempt to soothe him. 

“And you also like me?” that did have a question like tint to it so Lance for once decided to tell the truth. 

“Yes, I like you a lot” 

“Then… ``why did you flirt with Allura?” Keith made eye-contact with Lance, he wanted to know why. Why did Lance claim to love him and yet flirted with Allura? 

“Well… at first, I did develop a small crush on Allura but that dissipated quickly when I realized that she was just not interested in me, y’know? And I wasn’t about to be  _ that _ asshole who pushed themselves on to someone they don’t like so I talked to her about it and told her how I had grown to think of her as another sister and that while my flirting was real it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously because I just don’t like her like that anymore. It's more of a habit at this point but I swear that I don’t feel anything more towards her than brotherly love” 

Keith was silent again after Lance finished his rant and then he just hugged Lance again. “Thank god. I just— I just love you and I thought you didn’t and I got this feeling in my chest. It  _ hurt _ and all I could think about was how much I needed to be close to you and to be touching you” he was whispering into Lance’s skin and Lance was having a very hard time trying to stay calm. 

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere” he hugged the slightly smaller build of the red paladin close to his chest as he thought back to the gasping, choking sounds Keith was making when Lance had walked in. 

“Lance?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I kiss you?” Keith raised his head to try and look at Lance’s face again and all Lance could do was hide his face in Keith’s neck. 

“Um, we can’t kiss. At least not for the next few days. We can kiss as much as you want after though” He had to keep Keith calm and telling him they couldn’t kiss was something Lance shouldn’t do but he had to. If he wanted for normal Keith to not hate him, it was a necessary evil. 

“Why? Lance look at me. Why can’t we kiss right now? I want to kiss you,  _ please _ ” 

Lance had to be strong, he had to reject Keith right now to save their future relationship. He also couldn’t risk making Keith sad again though so maybe they could compromise. “How about cheek kisses?” 

Cheek kisses were safe enough, everyone gave each other cheek kisses. That was a thing friends did all the time. Now he just had to get Keith to agree with him and everything was good. 

Keith seemed to be thinking about it but when he saw that Lance wasn’t going to budge on this topic he decided to just nod and plant a small, lingering kiss on Lance’s cheek. He pulled back and Lance saw that his face was rosy and he had a small smile on his face. 

“If it’s just temporary then I can do that. I’ll just kiss you twice as hard in a couple of days” and another kiss because that was a thing that was going to happen now. At least while Keith ‘loved’ him. 

***

After the not so little incident, Lance and Keith were stuck together like glue. They had ended up in the lounge room and Coran had explained how the bug worked and how dangerous it was for Keith to feel unloved because his heart would stop beating. 

Lance had been horrified to find that out and swore to himself that Keith wouldn’t be sad if it was up to him. He was going to do everything necessary for Keith to feel as comfortable as he could while this whole love bug this blew over. 

The team had made the mutual decision that training for today was going to be impossible since Keith was insistent on being stuck with Lance and he refused to let go of him. Allura and Shiro were talking about the possibility of now being able to train at all until Keith recovered.

At most, they would be able to do team bonding exercises. 

When it was time to sleep last night repeated itself all over again and Keith ended up cuddling Lance to sleep while Lance imagined how Keith would react to everything when he came back. 

Day one was over, only two to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Also, I finished an interlude of I want YOU which features pining, angst, memories and much more. It's about a very special moment in our boy's lives if you know what I mean. wink wink. 
> 
> That should be up sometime soon so keep your eyes peeled.


	4. Everything Goes Back To How It Should Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith enjoy some more time alone but then, the thing Lance has both been expecting and dreading finally happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be posted hours ago but I kind of forgot because I forgot to put a remainder on my phone like I usually do. Fortunately, I remembered just in time and this was posted.

When Lance woke up the second day his view was assaulted by purple gray eyes, pale skin, black hair, and a small smile. 

He went still as Keith used a soft tone “good morning, how’d you sleep?” 

It was too soft, way too soft from someone like Keith to talk to Lance like that. That was a tone reserved for someone he would actually like not Lance. 

“I love waking up to you in the morning. Your bedhead is still adorable” Keith ruffled Lance’s hair again, Lance was starting to think that he really enjoys doing that. 

“You really like my hair don’t you?” he should take advantage of Keith and tease him but he still had to, he wouldn’t be Lance otherwise. 

“Yeah, it’s just really soft. So is your skin, by the way, all the time you spend on skincare really pays off” and now Keith was cradling his face with his palms and rubbing his fingers over Lance’s cheeks. 

“Like you can talk about soft skin, I’ve never even seen you do anything to your face and yet your pores are basically non-existent and your skin is soft too, if a little dry” Lance kind of liked this Keith, he was able to talk to him like he could neer with the real Keith. 

“I just wash it, I’ve never really understood the concept of wasting so much time on hour skin so I’ve never bothered. That’s one of the things I love about you though, how dedicated you are to your skin” Keith was giving him a dopey smile again and Lance was going to cry again. 

He didn’t deserve that look. 

“Well, you should start taking better care of it. Good genes can only take you so far” He was about to suggest showing Keith how to properly care for his skin but he figured it was pointless since Keith wouldn’t even want to see his face after this. 

“Maybe, I have no idea how to even go around taking care of it though” He was giving Lance an expectant and hopeful look, he wanted Lance to suggest they do a spa day. 

He wasn’t going to ask but maybe “Would you be interested in a spa day? I always thought you were just above things like those”

“I’m not really into that kind of thing but it would be a good way to spend time with you so…” Keith gave him another hopeful look and Lance just had to do it.

“We should do a spa day then. I haven’t done anything like that since home. My sisters and I used to do spa days when we were stressed and stuff” he remembered how the tradition started, Veronica and Rachel always did spa days and one day Lance came home crying because he almost failed his class and thought that the garrison would never want him anymore. Vero and Rach had forced him to join with them and from there it had become a tradition for all three of them to do spa days, especially on the days when one of them had a bad day. 

“Veronica and Rachel right?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Lance was perplexed, how did Keith know about it. He was sure that he’d talked about it before but he didn’t think Keith was paying attention. 

“You talk about your family a lot. I know I pretend to not listen but I always pay attention to your stories. I don’t have a family so listening to you talk about yours is always fun” Keith was giving Lance and earnest look and Lance had to wonder how that bug worked it was able to invade the mind of Keith like this. 

“That bug is really something, huh?” he muttered, he thought it was low enough for Keith to not hear but apparently not.

“What bug?” the red paladin had a furrow in his face and his head was tilted to the left slightly, as it always did when someone said something that he didn’t understand.  _ Cute _ . He wasn’t sure if Keith knowing about the bug so he chose not to let him know. 

“Just a space mosquito, nothing to worry about’ Lance waved his hand around dismissively, trying to not give much importance to the bug. 

“You don’t have to add the word space to everything, y’know” 

“Um, yes I do. Spaceship, space princess, space dad, space uncle, space mullet—”

“Space Sharpshooter” 

Lance flushed, “y-yeah, just like that” 

“You’re so cute” 

He couldn’t handle this anymore, “How about going to breakfast now? I’m hungry” He pushed Keith off of him loosely and stood up, pointedly ignoring the stare he felt on his back. 

***

Allura and Shiro decided that they should try training again today, hopefully, no more incidents like the one the day before happened again. 

Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. As soon as they started fighting against a team of gladiators it was clear that Keith didn’t care about anyone who wasn’t Lance. 

The first time, he allowed a shot to hit Hunk in the back to get in the way of hitting a bot that was aiming for Lance. Lance wouldn’t even have gotten hit because he already had his gun pointed at the bot but Keith felt like he had to jump in and protect him. 

The second time, He pushed Lance out of the way of a bot who bumped into Pidge and threw her right into danger, making her fall to the floor after being hit. Keith then ended up using his body as a shield again to save Lance from a shot that wasn’t even a real threat. 

The third time, Keith used Shiro as a human shield. He grabbed his shoulder and threw him right into a shot coming for Lance while he cut another bot down that was going to attack Lance. That was it!

“Keith! I can handle myself. You’re putting the rest of the team in danger to take out the gladiators that I could handle myself” he knew Keith was just acting like this because of the stupid bite but he was frustrated. Keith was acting like Lance couldn’t defend himself!

“I know but I don’t want to see you get hurt” 

“So you’re fine watching the rest of the team get hurt?” 

“ _ No, _ but just the thought of you getting hurt makes my chest ache and I can’t breathe and I just do these things without thinking about them. I just don’t want you to get hurt” Keith was gripping his arm and his eyes were shining. Lance felt a ping of empathy because Keith was just confused and it wasn’t his fault. 

At the same time though, they still need to train. He looked at Allura and tried to convey that they wouldn’t be able to train.

Lucky she seemed to come to the same conclusion because she called training off and let the paladins go off and do their own thing. 

***

Since there was nothing else to do Lance asked Keith what he wanted to do and he voted to watch bad Altean movies he doesn't understand the plot of. When Lance questions him on why that and not training and Keith said that it was an opportunity to cuddle. 

After blushing Lance and Keith went to the kitchen to get snacks and then went to watch various movies, some had subtitles and others didn’t. It didn’t matter much though because both the boys were barely paying any attention to the movies, instead, they had been preoccupied with each other. 

Lance was still wondering about how that bug worked because Keith knew way too many things about Lance. He mentioned a lot about the stories Lance talked about and even mentioned habits Lance himself had never even noticed he had. 

Apparently, he rubbed his index finger and thumb together when he was nervous. He turned his head to the right and jutted his bottom lip a bit out when he was confused about something. He looked upwards when he was lying. 

Lance had never even noticed he did any of these things and yet bug bite Keith somehow knew about them. If he didn't already know that he wouldn’t understand a word of it he would ask Pidge and Coran to explain how that bug affected the brain. 

Keith proclaimed his love for Lance at least four more times during their impromptu movie marathon and every time Lance dodged the confession by changing the topic. He saw how Keith’s face fell a bit whenever he did but he figured that it was better than saying it back and dealing with the consequences later. 

They ended up asleep on the couch in the lounge when Pidge and Hunk had found them cuddling. Keith in Lance’s lap, hugging his chest with his face buried in Lance’s neck. Lance was hugging Keith’s waist close to him with one hand and his thigh with the other. 

After Pidge and Hunk had taken approximately a billion pictured they had woken up the sleeping couple and woke them up for dinner. 

***

After a shower where Lance had to repeatedly make sure that Keith wasn’t peaking into his shower stall from his own they decided to go to bed from what was most likely the last time together. 

The next night Keith would go back to being regular Keith and he would most likely hate Lance for everything that was happening. For now, though, he would enjoy this tie with Keith as it was most likely going to be the last time they spend time like this from now on. 

They went off to sleep and this time Lance hugged Keith from behind, cuddling up to him. This was the last time he was going to get to hold Keith like this so he was going to take advantage of it. If someone (Keith) questioned him about it then he would blame exhaustion. Never mind the fact that he had already taken an hours-long nap. 

***

The next morning Lance woke up to Keith kissing his neck. His body immediately stilled and he resisted the urge to lean into it. For a few seconds, he let Keith go on, then, he felt those lips making a bite in his neck and then licking it. That was definitely going to leave a mark. 

He only came to his senses and realized this was all wrong when Keith got way too close to his face and as soon as Keith was going to plant one right into his lips he finally pushed him off. Keith made a pitiful whining sound when his back hit the mattress but Lance was preoccupied with jumping out of bed and freaking out. 

“Nononono this can not be happening. You’ll hate me as soon as you return back to normal. I should have never let things get this far. I should’ve stopped you when you first told me you love me and tried to kiss me, but instead— fuck fuck fuck— I’m a dead man walking” Lance started pacing around the room while he panicked. 

This had not gone anything like he wanted. It was supposed to be simple; Keith falls in love with Lance because of a bug, Lance sucked up his crush and helped Keith deal with that, Keith gets back to his normal self and hates Lance as least as possible. 

_ Nothing _ was supposed to happen and now Lance had let things go too far and this was never going to be okay. Voltron was going to fail because Keith was going to be  _ disgusted _ at how dirty Lance was, at how he took advantage of Keith like this. 

“Lance, I would never hate you. What are you talking about? I love you” Keith had his head turned slightly to the left and a confused look on his face. Like he really couldn’t understand why Lance was panicking so much. 

“You don’t get it. You don’t really love me, it’s all because of that love bug that makes you attracted to the first person you saw. What you feel is fake, all fake. You don’t love me” Lance wasn’t going to do this but the situation was already out of control. 

“Bug? What are you talking about? Of course, I love you, Lance. A bug isn’t going to change how I feel about you” Lance could tell he was confused but he  _ couldn’t _ do this anymore. It hurt way too much. 

“Yes, it did! A bug bit you and now you think that you’re in love with me but you’re not” Lance deflated when he saw that instead of getting angry like regular Keith would this Keith was just looking at him with confused eyes but no anger or frustration. 

“Lance, I’ve had a crush on you since forever, like, you don’t understand how often I have to resist the urge to just pull you close and kiss you within an inch of our lives because you’re just that attractive to me and I always thought I didn’t have a chance with you since you’re always flirting with alien girls and Allura so I keep my feeling hidden from you but for some reason, none of that matters anymore. I feel so much love for you and I  _ finally _ just can tell you. 

Trust me, nothing, no bugs or anything else could affect how I feel about you. Especially something that happened two days ago because these feelings I have for you, well, I’ve had them for a long time, if you count our time in the Garrison when I thought your name was Taylor” Keith had stood up from the bed and was now cradling Lance’s face in his hands and Lance wanted so badly to just give in and accept what Keith was saying as the truth but he knew it wasn’t. 

He knew it was just a bug and this wasn’t the real Keith. He couldn’t, he had to be strong. Part of that strength came from accepting that Keith  _ thought _ that he really did love Lance and he had to play along. For Keith’s sake. 

If he didn’t then he could literally cause Keith’s heart to stop just because he couldn't deal with his crush fake loving him. 

“Really?” He had to do this. “I guess the bug didn’t do anything to you”

“So you get it. The bug didn’t do anything to me. I love you now because I’ve had a crush on you since ages ago” Keith gave Lance a blinding smile. 

“Yeah, guess so. I’m sorry about this then. Do you want breakfast?” 

“Yep, let’s go” Keith looked like he immediately forgot his bad mood and clung to Lance’s arm as if nothing happened. 

***

After breakfast Allura and Shiro let them go off to explore Laxima in lieu of trying another training session. Most of the paladins celebrated and immediately went to get their lions to fly down into the planet. 

The castle was rotating the planet for a few days while Keith went through the effects of the bug since they didn’t want to risk a battle with the Galra. Lance and Keith hadn’t been down much since the first day when Keith got stung but the rest of the team had been down there often trying to convince Laxinians to join the coalition. 

Lance was excited to finally be able to go down there and explore the sights. Laxima had been pretty and he’d been itching for an opportunity to go down and explore. 

They had flown down in blue and Lance had to suffer the pain of having Keith in his lap. The other boy was also excited to go down with Lance and he hadn’t hesitated to say so. He had liberally hugged Lance’s neck and complimented his piloting skills in the short flight to the planet. 

“Red and blue paladins, it’s a pleasure to see you again. You two were the only paladins that have not been regularly coming down and seeing what outer planet has to offer” it was Lam, the ‘tour guide’ assigned to the team on the first day in their planet. 

“Lam, what a pleasure it is to see you again. Mullet and I have been… busy without very important paladin duties in the castle that we’ve neglected coming to visit” very important paladin duties for Lance included suffering at how Keith was in fake love with Lance and for Keith it included being in fake love with Lance. 

“I imagine you’ve mated after the red one received his amoro lueg bite, have you not?” Lance was perplexed, this culture seemed relatively decent compared to others in the universe and Lance had thought they were cool with how Allura and Coran had hyped them up but now he didn’t know what to think. They thought that he would actually  _ mate _ with Keith while under the influence of a love bug. 

How twisted did these people have to be to take advantage of a person like that?

“Why would we mate? We’re very eager for the amor lueg to wear off—”

“Lance said that we were going to start dating in a couple of days” Keith butt into conversing with a statement that made Lance blush. He remembered saying something about how Keith was allowed to kiss him in a few days and Keith had probably interpreted it as being able to date in a couple of days. 

“Oh, that is certainly a strange tradition, most people start mating after the bug first bites one of the couples. Waiting seems unnecessary” 

Lance was mad, how could these people see something like that as right?

Before he could say something about how messed up these people were Shiro interrupted them. 

“Lance! Keith!” Lance looked over at him and saw that Shiro had a mildly panicked expression. Before he asked though Shiro Lam spoke up. 

“Hello, Black paladin” She smiled, “the red and blue paladins were just telling me about human’s mating traditions” 

“Oh, r-really well could I borrow them for a moment, there’s something I really have to show them” he grabbed an arm of each boy and started pulling them towards the town. 

“Wait, Shiro, where are we going” 

“Let go of Lance, Shiro” while Lance had been concerned with the fact that the team was in a planet where people thought taking advantage of people influenced by an alien love bug was good, Keith was concerned with the fact that Shiro was holding the hand he wasn’t.

“Not the time, Mullet” Lance hissed in Keith’s ears and saw how a frown formed on Keith’s face as he stared at the place where Shiro was gripping Lance’s arm. 

“We don’t understand their culture, Lance, it’s probably just a misunderstanding. Keith, I'm not trying to steal your man”

Keith seemed content with that but still forcibly separated Lance and Shiro and glared at his pseudo brother. Lance took a few seconds to admire how weird the sight was once again. No matter how he any time he saw that it was still weird. 

He still wasn’t satisfied with Shiro’s mind-reading answer about how messed up this society was. “Shiro, that doesn’t explain how these people can think that taking advantage of someone like that is okay”

“Maybe the biggest effects laxiniens differently than it does hands. I know Pidge and Coran have been investigating the bug so we’ll know more then. For now, though, we shouldn’t make any assumptions, these citizens have been nothing but welcoming to us and we shouldn’t do anything rash against them that could put the alliance at risk” 

Shiro had that authoritative voice he got when he make decisions regarding Voltron. Lance figured he did have a point though, like, different bodies and stuff. He would just try to enjoy today without thinking about what kind of society this was. 

“So… was there actually something you wanted to show us or was that just an excuse to get us away from Lam without offending her” 

“It was just an excuse. Although, there are some very interesting things around town that you two might enjoy” Shiro gave them a smile and a pat on the back, receiving another glare from Keith when he made contact with Lance. He gave a small smile at that and let them go off exploring on their own. 

“Good idea, Shiro.  _ Lance and I _ are going off to explore  _ without _ you” and Lance felt a strong tug on his arm and he saw that Keith was pulling him away from Shiro. “Let’s go see something interesting”

“O-okay then, see you later, Shiro” Lance gave him a wave and followed Keith to a small stand selling knick-knacks. 

“Look, Lance, these rocks are really pretty” Keith was holding two pretty, shiny rocks in his hands. One was deep blue and the other looked burgundy, they were very pretty and so Lance was confused when Keith looked at the shopkeeper and got another freon in his pretty face. 

“Those rocks are very valuable, maybe not money-wise but fortune-wise. They are said to bring fortune and luck to those who possess them”

Lance looked at shopkeeper himself and didn’t see anything, the shopkeeper was very smiley but that was it. There wasn’t anything that would to Keith being mad right after he had finally gotten over his jealousy of Shiro touching Lance. 

“Let’s go, Lance” Keith put the rocks down and grabbed Lance’s hands again, this time grabbing his hand and hugging it to his chest tightly. He glared at the shopkeeper while he tried to pull Lance away from the shop. 

“Wait, Keith, why? I thought you liked that shop?” Lance was confused, they had been having a pretty good time looking at those rocks. Keith was smiling brightly at Lance and showing him pretty rocks. What was with this sudden attitude change?

“It’s nothing” Keith spit out, he wasn’t even looking at Lance anymore, just staring out into the street and glancing at all the people looking at them. Lance noticed that he was paying special attention to the female looking citizens with the occasional long look at the males. 

“It was obviously something if you thought we should walk away from the shop where we were having fun and now you’re mad about something. C’mon, Keith, we should talk about this. I can’t just read your mind to find out what’s wrong” Lance tried to put on his calmest voice possible when talking to Keith and dragging him to a corner. 

“It’s nothing, Lance, just leave me  **alone** !” Keith wasn’t looking at him and Lance knew that something was deeply wrong with Keith. He grabbed the other boy by the shoulders and forced him to face him. 

“Keith, just talk to me! Please, I just want to know what the problem is” Lance was begging but he just wanted to  _ know. _

“Lance, it was nothing. Really. I just want to go back to the castle, I don’t like it here anymore” Keith turned around and made to start walking back to where Blue was parked in the outskirts of town. 

_ “Keith,  _ just tell me” he grabbed Keith’s writs loosely, tight enough so that Keith realized he still wanted to talk but loose enough that Keith would be able to rip away if he so wanted. 

Keith stopped where he was turned and hung his head, he muttered something Lance couldn’t hear so he asked him to repeat himself. A few tense moments later Keith finally repeated himself. “She was flirting with you”

“Who?” someone flirted with him? Lance was pretty sure that if someone was flirting with him he would notice. He considers himself pretty good at noticing his surroundings. 

“The shopkeeper! She was all smiles and eyelash flutters and hair twirling and shit, you were just smiling at her” Keith started his speech with more passion but it died down as he kept talking. “And then all those people in the street were all just looking at you and they wanted to make a move and you”

“What? That’s not true. I would’ve noticed if someone was flirting with me. And those people in the street were just smiling at us because we’re paladins, not because they were flirting with me” trying to reason with Keith was pretty useless since the information seemed to go in through one ear and out the other. 

“Yes, it is. I saw how that shopkeeper was trying to make a move on you” Keith was, once again, not looking at him (Lance was learning that Keith was incapable of looking at him when he was feeling pressure). 

“Fine, let’s say that she was flirting with me, it doesn’t matter because I’m with you right now. I’m not interested in that shopkeeper anyway” he made another move to get Keith to look at him but it proved to be unsuccessful when the other boy just averted his eyes away from him. 

“But she’s the type of person you always flirt with” Keith’s voice was low and soft. Lance knew what he was talking about. He guesses that if this had been any other mission then he would have flirted with that shopkeeper. It still wouldn’t have been serious though since he only does it so that his attention is away from Keith for a few seconds. 

“I know that but I feel nothing for her, no intent to flirt or show off for her whatsoever” he intertwined their fingers together in one hand and pulled Keith close by his waist with his other hand, hugging him against him, enjoying the red that climbed up Keith’s neck. “Right now, all I can think of is you”

“R-really” Keith was high-key blushing, even the tips of his ears were red and Lance saw that it was spreading under the collar of his shirt. He wanted to take it off just to see how far down it would go.

“Yeah, now let’s go enjoy ourselves, okay McMullet?” 

“It’s not a mullet” Keith had a small, joking pout on his face and that was such a Keith response that instead of fighting back and forth like they usually did when this topic was involved he started laughing, “It’s not funny, Lance. My hair just grows like that” 

“Sure, whatever you say” he was still chucking when they started walking through the street again. 

***

They ended up wasting their time just enjoying going through all the shops on the street and then getting something that looked vaguely like ice-cream when they drifted from the town and into an empty field where they talked about the planet and how it compared to others they’ve visited. 

They ran into the other team members a couple of times but didn’t really talk to them much other than for a few things. They did end up buying a couple of souvenirs from that planet, Lance bought what looked like matching bracelets for he and Keith ended up buying pretty, shiny rocks (from a different shop then the first one since he still refused to go back there). 

Lance couldn’t help but wonder when the bug would wear off all while smiling at whatever he and Keith decided to do. 

There had been small signs that proved that the bug was passing. Keith’s headache that started a little after they got there and seemed to be increasing in intensity. How there were moments where Keith wasn’t touching Lance and he didn’t seem to notice. Regular Keith-like remarks that were very different from Love bug Keith remarks. 

He was both happy and sad that Keith was going back to normal. Happy because Keith was going back to normal and the team wouldn't have to suffer anymore with one paladin out of service and also because Lance was no longer going to suffer from having Keith stuck to him. Sad because Keith was most likely going to hate him when this was over and this was the best time with him Lance had ever had. 

At least he would get out of living in this dream-like state in which Keith is in love with him. 

***

It was dinner time and Lance knew that the bug should be wearing off any minute now

Keith was still acting like love bug Keith but he had said that his head was pounding and the place where his neck was bitten was red. 

Lance and Keith were sitting in the lounge after dinner, Lanca playing video games and Keith reading on his tablet. Keith’s tablet fell to the floor and he gave a small whimper of pain. 

Lance shot up and went to sit next to Keith. “Keith, babe, you okay?” he grabbed the boy by his shoulders and shook him lightly when he didn’t respond. “Kei—” 

Keith fell and Lance tightened his grip on the boy’s shoulders. Keith’s eyes looked like they glowed for a few seconds before he closed them and croaked. 

“L-Lance” his voice was raspy and he stilled. “Shit” he ripped himself away from Lance so quick he wondered if he got some kind of body whiplash. 

“...Did it wear off?” Lance’s voice was tentative. This was the moment of truth, would Keith remember everything and hate him or would he forget everything and just wander about what happened for the rest of eternity. 

“W-what happened?” that could be a good sign, or it could be just disorientation because of the bug. 

“You don’t remember? The bug that bit you and you thought you were in love with me. I mean, I know I’m irresistible but that was kind of extreme.” he tried to go for a teasing tone and a smirk he wasn’t didn’t look like a grimace. 

“I don’t. Sorry. I got to go” Keith avoided his eyes and Lance wasn’t sure if he was lying or if he was embarrassed. After saying that he basically speed-walked out of the lounge and Lance was left alone. 

Well, that was that. The bug had worn off and Keith had been out the door and away from lance as soon as he could. 

His only saving grace was that Keith didn’t seem to remember what happened so he probably wouldn’t hate Lance  _ too _ much. 

He sighed and saw that the game he abandoned when Keith fell was showing a ‘ **game over** ’ message. This could literally not get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave kudos and comments because they fuel me and make my days stuck in hell (school) better. 
> 
> Update on my life: My first week of school is done and I desperately want to kill myself. I have like two dollars so if someone is willing to take that as payment for my murder, hit me up.


	5. The Thrilling Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith reflects on how it felt when being high on the bug and the boys finally have the long-awaited talk about their feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it... the final chapter. I finally got to do this. Please, enjoy it.

The bug wearing off felt like his mind being pushed off from the back of his head to the front where he could properly control his actions. He could finally control the parts of his mind that told him to hug Lance and kiss him and tell him how much he loved him. 

_ Oh my god! He had told Lance that he loved him _ . 

He wanted to bash his head against the castle walls so he could distract himself from the fact that he just ruined one of the best relationships he had. 

Lance was one of his friends. He might even say that Lance was his best friend after Shiro went missing Lance was the one that supported him and stood by him for the brief time he was the Black paladin. He’d been his impulse control through all of that and Keith’s crush had grown into love. 

He’d known that he had no chance and had been doing a pretty good job of controlling himself up until now. Except now, because of one mistake and an irrational fear of bugs he lost control of himself and all his efforts went to waste. 

“Keith, can I come in?” he heard Shiro talking from outside his door but he couldn’t respond. He couldn’t help but partially blame his team for everything that happened. They could have forcefully pulled him away from Lance instead of letting him climb all over Lance. 

Instead, they let him humiliate himself and taking pictures and  _ laughing _ . He knew that it wasn’t really their fault but still, he couldn’t help but feel petty about it. Knowing that all this could have been avoided had the team just stopped him. 

“Go away” he felt sad and humiliated and he didn’t want to talk to anyone. 

“Keith, please let me in. I need to talk to you” Shiro had his authoritative tone and Keith got the urge to actually open the door but he urged himself to stay curled up in his bed and not open his door. “If you don’t let me in willingly I’ll just override this door, Allura gave me the code to unlock any door” because of course she did.

“I don’t want to talk” he was brooding and he didn’t want to talk. He wanted to sulk for a little longer before having to face the rest of the team. 

When he heard the sound of the door opening he threw the covers over himself in an attempt to cover himself and his shame. 

“Oh, Keith. I take it the cure wore off?” Keith heard how soft his voice sounded and his eyes suddenly stung with unshed tears. 

“Don’t pity me” his voice was wet and he knew that Shiro was able to hear it. 

He felt the edge of the bed sink underweight and he felt a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not pity. Can I take this blanket off?” Keith nodded and saw the bright light of his room and Shiro sitting next to him. “How do you feel?”

“Why didn’t you stop me?” It was a mumble and by the look on Shiro’s face, he didn’t hear. “Why didn’t you stop me?” it was louder and Shiro finally understood what he was saying. 

“We couldn’t stop you, Keith. If we had then your heart would have literally stopped because of the heartbreak”

“That would have better than everything else that happened” he knew that it would be better. His heart-stopping or having to tell Lance he loved him while he had no control over his body. Definitely his heart-stopping. 

“Don’t say that it wasn’t even that bad. Lance didn’t reject you and he doesn’t know about your feelings.” Keith jumped up at that. How could Lance not now about how Keith felt after everything that happened. 

“What?” there was no way—  _ but if he really didn’t remember then maybe not all was lost _ — there couldn’t be a way Lance didn't know about his pathetic, messy feelings. 

“Well, I told Lance that the bug created romantic feelings for the first person they saw rather than making someone act on romantic feelings. Lance doesn’t know about your feelings. I do, however, want you to tell him about them” Shiro had to be kidding. 

“No way. I can’t do that, especially after all this. Lance is gonna hate me” he could hear how his voice was wobbly and wet. He  _ couldn’t _ tell lance about his feelings, not after all this. Lance would think that he was taking advantage of him and the fragile friendship they had managed to form would be destroyed. 

“Lance won’t hate you, he’s not the type to hate people and definitely not the type to hate or blame people for having feelings. Worst case scenario: Lance rejects you and you keep being friends. Best case scenario: Lance feels the same and you get a boyfriend out of the whole situation.” 

Keith barked out a laugh at that because there was no way ‘best case scenario’ had any chance of coming true. Lance would shut him down in nanoseconds.

“I’m not going to tell him, Shiro” he didn’t know about anything else right now but he did know one thing and that was that a confession to Lance would not be coming out of his mouth. Not if he could help it. 

“Shiro, I can’t, if I tell him then Lance will hate me and Voltron will be ruined” how would they be able to work if Lance rejected him. They’re supposed to be professionals, Keith wished he’s never gotten this stupid crush in the first place. 

“Voltron might not be able to work even eventually if you continue keeping secrets” sometimes he hated how Shiro was the voice of reason all the time. 

“Then I’ll deal with it later” Petty/unreasonable Keith was once again making an appearance it seemed. 

“ _ Keith _ ” he could hear how Shiro’s voice sounded but at this point, he didn’t really care. He pulled the sheets over his head again and Shiro took it as a sign to leave. After a sigh, he heard the sound of his door opening and closing. 

***

Keith somehow managed to go the rest of the day without seeing anyone else in the team. Hunk and Pidge did knock on his door, though, so he was a bit disappointed Lance hadn’t come. 

The next morning, instead of going in his early morning training session like he usually would he decided that his time would be better spent moping around in his bed. As soon as he woke up he remembered how the previous two nights he had woken up son top of Lance’s chest with his neck nuzzled into the other boy’s neck. 

Now, he was waking up alone and in a cold bed. He thought of Lance and his ruffled, messy bed hair, his soft skin, and how  _ good _ Lance looked after waking up. It was everything he wanted and could never have. Oh and how he wanted it. He wanted it  _ so much _ that it hurt to think about Lance with someone else. 

Someone else would be able to experience that for real, without being bitten by a bug that would guilt trip Lance enough to let them get that close. He imagined what it would feel like to ever be that person. 

His thoughts once drifted off to his mornings spent with Lance. The one time he woke up earlier than him and started kissing and leaving hickeys. Lance’s skin had felt soft and malleable under his teeth and tongue. 

Just the memory and the knowledge that it happened and that it would never happen again was almost too much for his sensitive self. 

Just as he felt his eyes sting with unshed tears, there was a knock on his door. 

“Keith! Time for breakfast!” Pidge’s booming voice was enough to send the tears back inside him and for thoughts about what occurred in the last few days to go away. 

He couldn’t just miss breakfast, Allura and Shiro made a point for all the team to come together for breakfast and dinner (lunch they provided for themselves). He couldn’t miss breakfast or he would be hunted down (it had happened to him before and it was not fun). 

He dragged himself up from his bed and comfortable sheets and slowly made his way to the attached bathroom. His face was a mess, his skin was pale and there were bags around his eyes. In short, he looked like he’d just recovered from a love bug with the person he loves. 

He walked into the dining room and everyone else was already sitting down. His plate was in the counter and all he had to do was fill his food and go sit down. Easy enough. 

After grabbing his plate he went to his usual seat next to Lance but as he went to his seat he saw that Hunk was already there. That hurt. He sat in front of Lance and gave a brief glance to the other boy. Lance looked slightly better than him. 

His hair was messed up and he looked like he didn’t wash his face like he always did. He was also wearing the same clothes from yesterday, Keith suspected that he hadn’t showered. 

At least they were in the same boat. 

Hunk was sitting next to him, talking animatedly and looking between Lance and Keith. The rest of the team was also not really doing anything else, Hunk was the only one talking while the rest of the team remained silent. 

Allura broke the silence. “It appears that the amoro lueg has run its course, That’s great! That means that we can go to the celebratory feast for making a successful alliance today and tomorrow we’ll be able to leave”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Shiro looked at Allura, he had an uncertain look on his face. Keith knew what he was referring to but by the looks of it the rest of the team also had something in mind.  _ They know _ . 

Keith froze, there was no way the rest of the team knew. Maybe Allura and Coran since they seemed familiar with the bug but hopefully Pidge and Hunk had no idea. They  _ couldn’t _ know. They were Lance’s best friends and what they knew, Lance knew. 

And Lance couldn’t know about it. If he knew then Keith would rather jump out of the airlock than face him again. Keith looked at Lance and saw that he also had an incertain look on his face.  _ Could he?— No, impossible there was no way he would know. _ He wanted to jump up, run back to his room and hide under the covers. The only thing that stopped him was the quick glance Shiro shot him. 

“I don’t see the problem. Is there one?” the look Allura gave both Lance and Keith made them both recoil and shake their heads. “Great. Any other questions?” Shiro understood just how fearsome that look was as he shook his head and looked away. “We’ll leave after a brief training session then”

***

As he walked into the training room more memories entered his head. 

Using his teammates as human shields for Lance. 

Using  _ himself _ as a human shield for Lance. 

Shields for bots Lance could have handled himself. 

That airlock was looking incredibly attractive right now. He almost turned around and walked out if it wasn’t for Lance who was right behind him he would have. 

_ Shit— Lance was behind him! Abort Abort Abort— Walk forward dumbass!!! _

He managed to move just enough so he was out of Lance’s way without tripping and falling. Amazing, that was an accomplishment. He somehow managed to move without launching himself at Lance, an action that was all too familiar for something that happened for only three days. 

***

The team somehow managed to finish a training session for the first time in days without somehow managing to ruin it. Most of them saw that as an accomplishment and we're all cheering when they left for the communal showers. 

After a loud shower in which Keith chose the stall farthest away from Lance after a memory of trying to peak on him came into his mind, they finally started to get ready for the feast. Allura had given all of them formal outfits (color coordinated) that they were expected to wear to all their formal events. 

The actual party was loud, very loud. The food was all put in tables towards the sides of the room and most of the civilians from the planet were mingling near the food. The king and queen were sitting in their thrones in what Keith assumed was the front of the room, they looked gorgeous. 

When the paladins entered they all had to go and bow in front of the royals before being allowed to do what they wanted as long as they didn’t insult the people. 

Pidge and Hunk stayed together and went to one of the many food tables. Allura and Shiro both stayed and talked with the royal family and various other diplomats around them. Lance went off to what was passing off as the dance floor and strikes up conversations with a pretty purple-skinned alien. She seemed kind of familiar but Keith couldn’t place it. 

He noticed how Lance’s seemed a little forced but couldn’t figure out why she was exactly Lance’s type.

Keith remembered yesterday and how Lance hadn’t flirted with anyone because he only had eyes on him.  _ Guess that’s over now that he’s not at risk of throwing a crying fit. _ He gave a self-deprecating chuckle, laughing at how pathetic he was. 

Gods, he can’t believe that he thought even for a second that he had a chance with Lance. He hated that bug for showing him what he could’ve had if he wasn’t such a Keith. If he was a pretty girl he would be the one that Lance was laughing and flirting with. 

Too bad he wasn’t a pretty girl and was, in fact, a boy Lance had zero interest in. 

A memory struck him like a meteor hitting Earth’s surface. 

That was Lam. She knew how the bug actually worked. The reason Lance looked uncomfortable was because he believed these aliens were taking advantage of love bug victims.  _ That made sense now. _

Wait— she knew how the bug worked. ** She could tell Lance.**

Nononononono that couldn’t happen!

He rushed over to them and he was a couple of meters away when he heard the tail end of the conversation. 

“—doesn’t create attraction but emphasizes already existing emotions, were you not aware?” Lam had a curious glint in her eye and Lance was frozen. 

Keith could feel his knees wobble but he, somehow, managed to stay standing. 

“That’s not what Shiro said. He said that it creates feelings of attraction towards someone” Lance’s voice drifted off but all he could hear was the buzzing around his ears. 

Lance knows_. _

_ Lance knows.  _

** _Lance knows!!!_ **

This could not be happening. 

Lam turned her head slightly and saw him standing behind them and smiled. “There’s the Red paladin, we could just ask him about his feelings could we not?” Shit. 

Just as Lance was turning around Keith was sprinting off out the door and back to the pod the team used to get here. He cursed about how he’d agreed to come on a pod instead of Red because if she was here he would just be able to climb on him and run away to the castle. 

“Keith! Wait!” Lance’s voice sounded behind him but he didn’t even stop. All he did was run faster and spared a glance back. Lance was close to him. Way too close.

“Leave me alone, Lance! I don’t want to talk to you” Keith yelled back and saw that someone the laxinians not at the party turned to listen to the sound they were making. Lance sounded even closer now. 

“Just wait, I want to talk!” Lance was getting closer and Keith used his last bit of strength to propel himself to go even faster which ended up failing and he crashed right into the floor face first. 

Just as he was attempting to stand up on his scraped knees and most likely sprained ankle he felt a heavy weight on his back and he fell to the floor with an ‘oof’. 

“Get off of me, Lance!” he tried throwing the blue-eyed boy off him but only succeeded in turning himself around so he was laying under Lance with his legs spread around the other boy’s legs. 

Lance was balancing with his hands on either side of his face and his knees on the floor. Their faces only inches apart and the proximity made Keith blush. 

“Not until we talk!” Lance got even closer to Keith’s face and if he cursed just how noticeable his blush was on his pale skin. Lance opened his eyes and Keith made eye contact with those dazzling blue eyes he dreamed off so often. 

“I don’t want to talk” he was being stubborn again but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to be rejected right now, not while he could still feel the taste of Lance on his tongue and the feel of him on his hands. 

“ _ Keith _ ” Lance sounded so much like when Keith got jealous and wanted to return to the castle yesterday and just thinking about everything that happened yesterday almost brought him to tears. 

“Just let me go!” he tried squirming out from under Lance but it failed when Lance moved his hands from the side of his face to his shoulders, pinning him to the floor. 

“I won’t let you go until we talk about things,” his voice was serious but it was held in a bit of hesitance and sadness. Keith wanted to give in but that would mean he confesses to Lance and gets rejected and he  _ really _ didn’t want that. “What Lam said inside, do you like me?” 

Straight to the point, huh. He could confess right now. He should confess right now. but— but— but— he couldn’t open his mouth. The fear was too much, he’d been rejected by everyone, lest alone by everyone. He wouldn’t be able to stand it if Lance was one of those people, he was his impulse control, his right-hand man, his  _ partner. _

If Lance rejected him he would be heartbroken.

He had to lie. 

“I don’t, I don’t like you, not- not like  _ that _ . We’re friends but that’s all” the words were all but sobbed from where he was. His voice cracking and wobbling throughout his answer. He couldn’t look at Lance because he feared he’d be able to see the truth in his eyes. 

“Oh,” Lance’s voice sounded sad but Keith couldn’t tell why wasn’t this exactly what he wanted. For his friend not to have a crush on him so he wouldn’t have to reject him and make things awkward. What right did he have feeling sad when Keith was ripping apart his own heart just so he wouldn’t have to physically be rejected?

This position wasn’t food for him and this time, when he made another move to get out Lance went willingly almost robotic in his movements. 

“Yeah— I’m just gonna—” he made a gesture to the pod to indicate what he couldn’t say out loud. 

“Why did you run away then?” Lance’s voice rang out with the one question he couldn’t answer. Why did he run out like that if he didn’t have a crush on Lance? He opened his mouth to answer with another lie when Lance’s voice rang out again. “Please don’t lie to me, Keith”

“I-I-I” he stuttered throughout something while trying to come up with a reasonable excuse but Lance’s second statement made him flinch. He could lie to Lance again but what was the purpose of that other than delaying the inevitable rejection he knew was coming. “Why does it matter?” 

Why did it matter? Lance didn’t feel the same so how would knowing if Keith had any kind of romantic feelings affect him? Keith was doing him a favor by not telling him, he wasn’t putting pressure on Lance to reject him and then having to live with him. 

“I think I have the right to know if my teammate has a crush on me” because I’d be uncomfortable. Keith heard the unspoken ending. 

He knew it was unfair that he wasn’t telling Lance about it. He deserved to know that Keith wanted him like that but he was just too much of a coward for it. 

He knew he had to though. He had to tell Lance or else he would never be able to move on. 

“I do” his voice was quiet but he knew Lance would be able to hear, there were no other noises around them to block it out. 

“You do?” Lance’s voice was as soft as his was but he heard it perfectly. 

“I-I like you okay and I know you don’t so I don’t expect anything from you. Just know that I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you or anything. I couldn’t control myself because of that bug and I couldn’t stop. I s-swear I wasn’t trying to force myself on you s-so d-don’t hate me, please” Lance didn’t say anything for a few seconds so Keith took it as an invitation to continue. 

“I understand if you don’t want to talk to me or if you feel disgusted but please j-just don’t hate me. I swear I’ll get over it and it won’t mess with our friendship. I’m really really sorry about this” he stopped talking and left Lance to say something. When moments went by and Lance was still silent he spoke up again. “Please say something” 

He looked at Lance and saw that he was just staring at nothing. Fuck, he messed up. He should have just gone along with his lie and maybe Lance would talk to him. If only he could control his feelings then he would’ve never been put in this situation. 

“So… you have a crush on me?” Keith nodded. Why couldn’t Lance just get his rejection over with? This was humiliating. 

Then, something unexpected happened. Lance finally moved, he stood up and jumped Keith who almost fell down from the unexpected action. 

“That’s great!” Lance was excited, he had a smile from ear to ear. 

“How exactly is that great?” Keith was confused, how could Keith having a crush on Lance ever be great?

“Cause I like you too, dummy”

.

.

.

Keith isn't sure if he heard right or if he’s still on the love bug and Lance thinks he has to keep faking it. “My heart won’t stop if you reject me y’know. If you don’t like just say so. Don’t think that you have to force yourself to return my feelings” That was the last thing Keith wanted. 

“I’m not faking or forcing myself to do anything. I really really like you” his smile was so but Keith was still thinking about how this couldn’t be real. It had to be a hallucination because there was no way the universe would actually give him something this good. 

He had to place trust in Lance though, he couldn’t be lying about something  _ this _ serious. “If that’s the case, then I really like you too” He loved Lance but thought it might be too soon for something like that. 

“Then… do you maybe want to be my boyfriend?” Lance still had a giddy smile on his face although it filled with a bit of hesitation when he finished his question. As if Keith could somehow say anything but no. 

“Yes yes yes yes—” his continuous yes’s were cut of by Lance’s lips pressing insistently against his. 

They kissing until they were forced to break it off when their smiles got too big to continue kissing. 

***

They ended up going back to the party with their hands intertwined and giant smiles on their faces. 

Some of the laxinians were just looking at their intertwined hands and Lance’s face suddenly brightened. 

“I think I finally understand what Lam was trying to tell me” 

“Yeah, that does make more sense when you know how the bug works” 

They both smiled at each other and went to dance 

***

Maybe this bug hadn’t been the worst thing to happen to him. 

  
  
  


END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, my God, I can't believe I finally finished something. This is such an accomplishment for me and i want to thank everyone for reading this until the end and for showing me all your support. Thank you so much for reading this : )

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. If you notice any mistakes please tell me about them. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos fuel me so... please leave some.


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